Evidence that the Handmade Tile Association is growing at a fast pace is how long our newsletter has become. We have so much great info on tile events, gallery shows, lectures, and workshops that we are going to introduce a second newsletter in the middle of each month to make the information more digestible. In one of trades with a business this year Mellisa Copon of Copon Photography is introducing a members events and happenings newsletter. This second newsletter will geared to help promote to the followers of the HTA and the general public to highlight the great opportunities people have to attend tile events all across the country. Melissa has lots of experience working with Constant Contact our newsletter program and she will be taking info from our events page each month to promote to the wider audience. The HTA has 500 people and growing daily on our e newsletter list of which 100 are HTA members. The list comes from all the people who contact the HTA to get reminders about the MN Tile Festival and just want to follow our groups progress. A key concept to the new events newsletter is how members forward it on to your interested parties. This will drive more traffic to your website and to the tile events you are working on as well as the Handmade Tile Association website. Look for the new events newsletter in the middle of each month.Make sure to send the HTA your events, workshops, classes and Gallery shows so we can highlight them. info@handmadetileassociation.org

The HTA meeting on February 11th will be the kick off of the MN Tile Festival registration. We will have applications and Postcards and a marketing packet. Sign up early and save. This year those who sign up before April 31st. will get 2009 rates. After May 1st the price goes up. We are expecting an amazing year and we want to fill up the booth spaces early so we can promote all the artists early and often. Send us photos of your newest work to promote. We will have marketing packets for all participating artists.

Grants for Artists

Northern
Clay Center invites you to apply for one of several artists grant
opportunities for ceramic artists in 2010. Please see below for
further information. Contact me directly to discuss the application
process, eligibility, etc. I'd be happy to meet with you in person to
discuss our grant programs!

The Opening Reception was a great hit with lots of artists being interviewed by the media. B-30 a Bloomington cable TV station filmed numerous artists. The are working to have them on UTube and as soon as we get the info we will post it on the HTA Facebook page. Click here for more details

Trebuchet Talk: Marketing 101

Trebuchet is the marketing company that the HTA hired to promote the MN Tile Festival. As part of there program they are going to create tools for the members and participating artists to promote the MN Tile Festival. Below is a snippet of a marketing presentation for their clients.

Brand
Identity and Logos

A logo is one of the most important components of
a brand identity. Three things are important when considering whether
or not a logo is "strong": Color, Shape and Frequency. A brand or product identity is the sum of the attributes one associates with a brand- and by extension, the branded company, organization, product or service. An effective brand builds a connection between the brand personality as its perceived by its audience and the actual product or service.

Color: The color of a logo is of the utmost importance. Color speaks volumes about your brand and is a very strong element in a brand's identity. When choosing color(s) for a logo, you must consider people's associations with those colors and how that will translate to their associations with your brand.

Shape: Like color, shape is also an important part of a logo and brand identity. The shape of the font(s) and of other elements in the logo should be consistent with the type of product you sell or the service you provide.

Frequency: Business owners mistakenly believe they must constantly change their look to keep their customers interested. Wrong! Every time you communicate with your audience you're hoping to gain their trust (and their dollar). You want to essentially keep repeating yourself. It's putting equity in your brand!Read More Click Here

Opportunity Downtown Minneapolis Gallery - Volunteers Needed

FREE Gallery space in downtown Minneapolis is available if we want to put
together a HTA group show later in 2010 or possibly, 2011.In addition to free space, Thrivent is willing
to do a brochure and poster with the information we provide.

There are two available galleries located in the Thrivent
Financial for Lutherans building (a.k.a. the old Lutheran
Brotherhood Building)
adjacent to the Hennepin
County Government
Building and diagonally
located from City Hall.The second floor
gallery is almost booked given its high traffic location off the skyway and
corporate dining room. The first floor gallery has wonderful light, but lower
traffic flow.

This is an opportunity to earn your five hours of volunteer
time AND get a show in a high traffic downtown location.If you are interested in helping to plan and
implement a show with me, let Josh know.I have limited time available this year but am willing to put in at
least 5 hours help get this off the ground.With the help of 2-3 others and assuming there sufficient interest among
our membership I think this could be an excellent opportunity for
exposure.Usually Thrivent Financial for
Lutherans features local artists, but the fact that we now have out-of-state
membership should not be a problem.If
interested in participating by showing your work or in volunteering time to
plan and implement a potential show, please contact Josh at 612-781-6409.

Thanks!Linda Taylor,
Clay-Earth Studios. 1-22-10

Coverings 2010

Coverings 2010 registration is open!

This year, Coverings is headed back to Orlando, Florida from April
27-30. Join industry professionals from over 100 countries and
discover the latest products and trends for your tile + stone
business!

An introduction of how many great tile resources are available in the
Twin Cities and how affordable it is to use handmade tile and mosaics.
There will be samples of handmade tile artists work. It will feature
photos of projects, how to choose a tile setter, Do it yourself ideas,
I will highlight how the process works and how much to budget for their tile projects.

Directions: Hwy 94 to West Broadway exit.
Go across the Mississippi River on the Broadway Ave. bridge to Marshall
St. NE and take a left (North) at the first stop light onto Marshall St.
Follow Marshall St. to 22nd Ave. NE and make a right onto 22nd Ave.
Continue for 2 blocks to California St.
The California Building is on the corner of 22nd Ave. and California St. NE.

Park in the Mill City Cafe parking lot and use the entrance up the stairs or ramp.
If the lot is full, there is usually plenty of street parking available.
Pot Luck - Its winter can't wait to try all the Hot Dish!

Agenda
Tour of studio and demo of Torchwork
Minnesota Tile Festival registration starts
Postcards will be available
Discussion if HTA will be apart of Art A Whirl
Marketing 101 with Trebuchet

We are looking for venues to have meetings for 2010 and 2011. If you would like to host a meeting please contact the HTA to set one up. info@handmadetileassociation.org

If you are not in the Minnesota region consider creating a meeting of tile and mosaic artists in your area. The HTA can promote your meeting through this newsletter and on the website, Facebook, and Linked in. It is a great way to learn and promote tile ideas.

Recently many members received a reminder to renew your membership. We are making it easier with our new online store where you can use a credit card. Please note there is a $3 charge for this option to pay for the service. Not only can you renew your membership you can purchase HTA history ie maps, commemorative tiles, and
past directories. Click here to find out more.

Thank you

Deb LeAir came to the HTA office and boxed up over 40 HTA directories for shipping that members requested. Jill Libby then came in created the shipping labels and ordered a pick up to get the directories out.

Thanks to Linda A Witkowski for requesting 50 directories to hand out at the 23rd Annual Art & Crafts conference at the Grove park Inn in Asheville, NC. If you have a big event you want to hand out the directories at please contact the HTA and we will get them out to you.

February Jobs

Get your 5 hours in!

We have one more small mailing to be doing a mailing of directories to art centers, members who want to distribute the directories in states all across the U.S.We need one person to come in and box and ship the directories.

In March the HTA meeting will have Mayco as special guest presenter and they have requested two volunteers to help out the program. If this interests you please contact the HTA

Living Green Expo MN Evironmental Partnership (MEP)is pleased and excited to announce that exhibitor registration for the 2010 Living Green Expo is now open at livinggreenexpo.mn

This show was amazing in 2009 with tens of thousands of people looking for green products. Tile and Mosaic artists are encouraged to apply to show Green can be beautiful!Hurry spaces are very limited it is hard to get in and most businesses are on the waiting list.

Tile Design to Children

University of Minnesota Project

Community Service Project Brings Tile Design to Children

In May of 2009 David Aichinger was asked by the University of
Minnesota's Institute of Child Development, to come to their classroom
and teach the children the art of tile mosaics. David worked with the
teachers to develop a project that would show off the children's
creativity by having individual pieces that would be put together to
create a larger art project. A tree was the decided project. The
children would each create a tiled mosaic leaf that would be combined
with the other leaves to represent a tree.